Villadom Times Weekly Newpaper Online-March 2, 2011 Issue

March 2, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 7 Franklin Lakes Planners approve second Millbrook Estates house by Frank J. McMahon The Franklin Lakes Planning Board has approved the site plan and a height variance for the second house to be built in the 10-acre eight lot Millbrook Estates subdivision on Birch Road. The board approved a 5,124 square foot home with attached garage, walkout basement, and rear multilevel patios. The garage will be accessed by way of a single access driveway from the subdivision’s cul-de-sac, Mill Brook Lane, with a garage access turnaround area and a stepping stone walkway from the front door into the culde-sac’s right-of-way. The property will contain four-foot high retaining walls and a rectangular pool with a partial patio surround and a pool safety fence enclosing the rear yard. The planning board spent a considerable amount of time at a recent public meeting discussing the height variance that would be needed based on the borough’s requirement that the roof ridge of a house be measured from the lowest grade around the perimeter of the building at the time of the original subdivision approval. The board ultimately agreed that proposed building would not require a height variance were it not for a breakfast nook that extends into the backyard where the contour of the property drops off. The board noted that the roof over the breakfast nook area will be lower that the upper roof of the house. The planners found that that 1.6 foot violation of the borough’s 40 foot height requirement was “diminimus.” A neighbor of the site whose property is located below the rear of this property concurred with the approval of the height variance. Kathy Stack, whose home is located on Park Road, agreed with the board that the variance condition created by the breakfast nook extension of the proposed house is not significant. “I would like my neighbors to have the breakfast nook,” Stack told the board. Five trees will be removed for the construction of this house in addition to the seven trees that were approved for removal from this lot as part of the planning board’s December 2007 subdivision approval. Borough Engineer James Kelly pointed out that the maximum allowable lot coverage permitted by the borough’s zoning code is 25 percent, and the maximum lot coverage as proposed is 24.3 percent without any basement access hard surface, rear yard walkways, or hard surface access to the pool from the dwelling. He cautioned the applicant not to exceed the allowable maximum lot coverage. The original subdivision was approved after a public hearing that extended through 14 board meetings that began in October 2006. During that time, there were extensive debates and plan changes as a result of the possible impact of the subdivision on Stack’s property, the compliance of the plan with the borough’s storm water management plan, the ability of the borough’s volunteer fire department to fight fires on the site, and the existence of nitrates in the ground that could affect the drinking water in the area. The property had been a commercial horse farm with two residences located on the site. BK BOOKKEEPING & PAYROLL SERVICE, LLC New Drum Teacher ACKERMAN’S  QUICKBOOKS PRO SPECIALISTS Music �� Patricia’s Coiffures PERMS • COLORING SHAMPOO & SET CUTTING & BLOW DRYING Servicing All Small Businesses Phone: 973-423-0303 Fax: 973-423-3131 bkbookpay@optonline.net Annmarie Breeman • Nancy Kough  Center �� Tues, Wed & Thurs 8 Godwin Plaza • 644 Godwin Ave.• Midland Park Tuesday-Saturday 9:00-4:30: Open Thursday Evenings 201-652-9608 �� The Wyckoff Chamber of Commerce ��